1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foldable walker apparatus. More particularly, it relates to a foldable walker apparatus having a variety of optimized features relating to its folding mechanism, braking pad mechanism and brake housing, brake rod assembly, frame shape, collapsible basket, front wheel assembly and related mounting assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to have foldable walkers. However, much of the prior art discloses walkers that require many parts and this may lead to additional manufacturing costs. On the other hand, some walkers have fewer parts but may suffer from a lack of robustness and rigidity, particularly in the lateral direction. This may lead to a compromise in the safety of such devices. Some walkers in their folded states remain bulky and difficult to manage. Still further known walkers suffer from having many parts that may tangle with one's clothing.
There are a great variety of frame shapes for walkers. In order to accommodate the variety of body shapes and circumstances that a user of walkers may encounter, a strong frame is needed. This has led to frames that have many parts, which may lead to further manufacturing costs. Alternatively, this has led to frames that are square or rounded-square in profile which are thicker and/or made of heavy duty metals. Such features may lead to a heavier, less manageable and therefore less enjoyable walker.
Many foldable walkers include baskets. However often times these baskets need to be removed before the foldable walkers may be folded. Alternatively, many of these baskets require the foldable walker to fold from front to back. This may compromise the strength and rigidity of the frame of the foldable walker. Also, many of the baskets for walkers require many parts. This may act to increase manufacturing costs.
A variety of walkers have a housing over the brake pad mechanisms. However, often times this housing only partially extends over the brake pad. Even if the brake pad is covered by a housing, often the connecting and adjusting means for adjusting the brake pad protrudes outwards or is exposed for the user to adjust. As a result, some walkers of the prior art have brake pad mechanisms that are more prone to getting entangled with the user of the walker, which may lead to a great inconvenience and a safety concern for the user. Moreover, such walkers are more prone to breaking, and wear and tear, including damage such as thread-stripping of the connecting and adjusting means for the brake pad. This may lead to the considerable inconvenience, and extra expense to the user, or a premature need to replace the brake pad mechanism. It may also lead to a further compromised safety to the user if as a result the walker no longer brakes.
The use of a brake rod for walkers is known. Brake rods provide the advantage of enabling the walker's height to be adjusted without affecting brake cables disposed within the walker's telescoping tubes. However, some walkers require the two separate steps of 1) adjusting and fixing the height of the telescoping tubes through thumb screws and 2) fixing the brake rod to function accordingly. This is time consuming, requiring additional parts and thus manufacturing costs. It also may require a significant degree of dexterity which may therefore be challenging and therefore frustrating for the user of the walker. Some walkers combine the fixing of the height of the telescoping tubes with the fixing of the brake rods. However such walkers require that the length of the telescoping tubes be first fixed by the user in order to enable the brake rods to function. Therefore, if the user does not have the dexterity to fix the height of the telescoping tubes, or if the fixing mechanism for the telescoping tubes malfunctions or no longer works through damage or wear and tear, such as a stripping of the thumb screw, this means that the brake rod cannot be fixed and the braking function of the walker will not work. This may result in a walker braking mechanism that is less robust and less safe.
Some mounting assemblies of the prior art, on the one hand, are configured for connecting front wheel assemblies to walker apparatuses with rotating shafts that may dislodge or slip when the walker apparatuses are used on carpets and the like, as well as through wear and tear and/or manufacturing defects and imperfections. When this occurs, the walker apparatus' motion and operation may be inhibited. Shaft assembly slippage is annoying to a user and may hinder the user's ability to operate the walker apparatus. This problem is exasperated by users who may be elderly and/or who may already have limited motor skills and manoeuvrability.
Some walker apparatuses, on the other hand, provide mounting assemblies for front wheel assemblies where the mounting assemblies are relatively complicated, requiring relatively many parts. Such mounting assemblies and walker apparatuses may thus require a relatively greater amount of manufacturing and installation time, all of which may lead to increased costs.
Mounting assemblies for front wheel forks are typically made with plastic parts and rotate by means of bearings. Bearings have play and this renders it difficult to maintain a shaft aligned on a true axis by way of a single bearing. Also, when lateral force is exerted on the wheel fork, which often made of a flexible material such as nylon, one or more of the above set out bearings may become dislodged from its seating within the wheel fork. This, as a result, may further inhibit the effective functioning and pivoting of one or more wheels of the walker apparatus. Also, bearing dislodgement may lead to the bearing(s) and shaft separating from and falling out of the front fork, thereby crippling the walker apparatus and causing injuries. Some devices of the prior art use two spaced-apart bearings to keep the fork “true” and to inhibit dislodgement of any one bearing. With two bearings, play is reduced and the frequency of bearing dislodgements may also be reduced. However the use of two bearings may lead to further increased costs and may also add an extra burden to manufacturing accuracy. Still other devices may use a more complex mounting assembly to try to ensure that their bearings remain in place. However, such structures may include many parts, may increase manufacturing costs, may increase the weight of the walker as a whole, and may increase the probability of the eventual failure of one or more of said parts.
There is accordingly a need for an improved walker apparatus that overcomes the above set out disadvantages in a cost-effective manner.